Joshua Forrest Russell

art

I was recently given this beautiful vintage scrap book as a gift. Every page inside was empty except for the last. It had a ripped image, a diagram of a playground with kids playing on a structure. I found it haunting, nearly sad so I decided to add to the page, an attempt to try and fill in what was missing. This page had so much character and it inspired me to keep the concept going throughout the rest of the book. So now I’m making a complete work out of it. I’ll fill in each page by taking old images and cutouts I find and finishing/editing what’s missing. I will post more and more as time passes.

I had to pack light on my journey home for the holidays. I find it easier to get things done when there isn’t much choice around to distract my focus. I brought with me a single moleskin which I had been doodling in throughout the semester and have decided to rework the pen doodles I’ve scribbled down throughout the pages. This way I have a plan to stick to, no matter the quality of the work. In the end I want to find a way to make something out of each one, even if the page was used up by just a word.

During my holidays I want to play around with outlines of my favourite things and shapes to create minimalistic patterns. I needed a break from conceptualizing everything and just draw a thing or two purely for the fun and aesthetic of it. This is the first two I’ve made in a hopefully ever growing series. See Gulls was inspired by a photo that I took on the coast of Morocco of a huge flock of birds trying to catch their supper. There were so many in fact, that they practically covered up the ocean that flowed behind them. It’s a vivid memory that I will always love. I plan on printing this series on a long thin strip of paper and then block printing the original photo atop different segments of the pattern.

Not every thought or word we think of will make it to the top of our minds and seep into the world around us. There’s so many obstacles within us that create stops along the way that give us time to second guess ourselves. Once we do, we swallow our imagination making it difficult to recollect the ideas we’ve since lost. If only there was a way to make this journey easier and more direct. A way to express without an off ramp.

If only we could predict when we’re all going to crash and burn. That way we could stain the world with the footprint we choose to leave behind.

I decided to revise this old drawing and give it a bit more detail. I made this after seeing a mosquito that had been freshly smeared across a white wall. A complete track detailing it’s time of death. The exact spot it was hit and then the spot that it was left to die. We all despise being bitten, me included, but I guess seeing this made me see it differently. I felt bad, I saw it as a life ended as opposed to a pest I wanted to get rid of. Was the blood on the wall mine? Was it the blood of multiple people? Where did the mosquito come from and how long was it alive? I had questions about when it was alive, because I knew how it died.

Here’s a drawing I did a couple months ago while trying out different materials and digital apps. I’m slowly learning to mix my materials more often. With this drawing I thought it’d be fun playing with irony and the idea of fast food and it’s detrimental effects on the body. What if it benefited us in the same way that it’s described, lending us a boost of speed for example. I Would love to keep playing with this style/idea and expand it into a series or comic one day.